1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contact lenses. More particularly, the disclosed device relates to a contact lens insertion and removal device configured for employment using the hand of a user to more easily and sanitarily manipulate and insert contact lenses using an elongated member having an insertion component on a first end and a lens capturing component for removal thereof from the eye on a second end, opposite the first end.
2. Prior Art
The use of contact lenses has become more popular in recent years due to improvements in lens technology as well as cost providing easier accessibility to the average consumer. Soft contact lenses formed from synthetic hydrogels employed to correct vision, or for aesthetic purposes of eye color or both, are known to comfortably provide immediate vision improvement as they are easily wetted and most are formed of material allowing for sufficient oxygen permeability to allow oxygen to contact the eye.
The concave shape of modern soft lenses, when placed adjacent to and then in contact with the surface of a user's eye, tends to provide a suction adhesion to securely engage the lens to the surface of the eyeball. However, for users both new and seasoned with experience in the usage of such lenses, insertion and removal of the flexible and sometimes collapsed lens onto the surface of the eyeball can be time consuming, frustrating, and unpleasant, thereby rendering what appears at first to be a simple task, to one that is in fact difficult.
Further, more modernly, many soft contact lenses are formed for short time occupancy of the eye and are therefore formed of very thin material. While these thin contact lenses are generally more comfortable, they are considered “daily wear” wherein a user must consistently remove the lenses prior to sleeping, and the following day, must insert a new pair of lenses. Such lenses while comfortable, are not made to resist the perils of long term wear and are as such are generally more easily torn. Additionally unlike long term soft lenses or hard lenses, during insertion the curve of thin lenses tends to collapse when placed on the user's finger rendering the “cup” like engagement a much smaller target.
Conventionally, users will insert and remove the lens from each eye using one finger. In use, the soft lens is removed from a disposable package and positioned using a pair of fingers on one hand, which then places the lens with its exterior surface of wetted soft lens material atop one finger of the opposite hand. The moist nature of the lens tends to statically adhere it to the user's finger and allows them to manipulate the lens which has been removed from a package or carrying case, from a horizontal and supported position to a substantially vertical position with engaged by static adhesion or surface tension to a finger during insertion.
In a conventional removal from the eye, the user will often pinch or otherwise flex the lens between two opposing fingers, to break the surface tension and suction adhering the contacting surface of the curved lense, with the curved surface of the user's eyeball. Once so pinched, the user peals the lens off their eye. This removal effort requires deliberate movements and a keen sense of spatial relationships. Further it requires short fingernails and a bit of dexterity that is learned over time by most who can.
For insertion, it is important for the user to maintain a minimum contact surface area of the exterior of the contact lens, in a communication with a portion of their finger. This contact surface must be large enough to insure the lens will stay engaged to the finger when held in a substantially vertical disposition, but small enough to ensure that the finger will properly disengage from the lens once inserted to contact the opposite curved surface with the eye. If the user's finger adheres substantially to the contact lens, when the user pulls their finger away from an attempted insertion, the lens may inadvertently be tugged off the surface of the eye when it overcomes the suction adhesion. This may not only provide discomfort to the user, but in the case where the user has had LASIK surgery resulting in corneal flaps, the flaps may be torn from their position. Further, if the lens is torn away, the attractive force from the eye tends to pull the lens from the finger, and frequently the contact lens will end up on the floor or in a sink where sterility is at best questionable and normally unsatisfactory to allow for a reinsertion of the dropped lens.
As can be imagined, this system of insertion and removal of contact lenses can be very discomforting to the average user, and may result in degraded eyesight should they lose a lens and lack a replacement, or can result in eye infection if they reuse a dropped lens. Further, the simple act of a user being required to contact their eye with their finger is typically considered unpleasant and actually causes many potential contact lens users to instead continue to wear eyeglasses. In addition, there is a great chance of cross contamination from germs or viruses such as Herpes on the user's finger even if washed or sanitized.
For some users, daily repetition of insertion and removal allows them to become accustomed to the process which may eventually not become as bothersome. However such long term users frequently become complacent about proper hand hygiene prior to insertion and removal. Additionally, for other individuals, the process remains an uneagerly anticipated nuisance. For these users, it is often the fact that they must insert their finger into their eye, which is unsanitary and uncomfortable which defers them from the task. As a result, prior art has provided many contact lens insertion and removal devices in order to decouple the act of employing ones own finger with the process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,414 to Schrier teaches such a device employing a pair of bifurcated members employed for grasping the lens for assisted insertion and removal. However, the device to Schrier requires the user to carefully and deliberately manipulate the members once in contact with the lens, which may prove extremely difficult if the user is squeamish and unable to maintain a steady hand. Further, the members of Schrier are pointed angular tips, which most users would avoid using lest they be required to position pointed objects in their eyes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,815 to Clark teaches a lens insertion and removal device comprising a suction cup member having a concave surface coupled with a vacuum source. The device to Clark is employed by contacting the cup to the lens, applying a vacuum to engage the lens thereon, and manipulating the lens for either insertion or removal. However, the suction cup and vacuum applied thereon may inadvertently impart a vacuum on the surface of the eye, and the problems associated with corneal flaps may be present. Further, providing a vacuum source or means can be quite cumbersome and may not be desirable for travel and other reasons. Even in the absence of the vacuum, the device is configured such that a lens may maintain static adhesion to the cup member which may prove difficult for transferring the lens from the cup to the surface of the eye for insertion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,398,277 to McDonald teaches an insertion device having a suction cup member fluidly engaged to a syringe. In use the lens is engaged within the cup member and a depression of the barrel of the syringe forces a fluid out of the syringe to eject the lens from the cup. The device advantageously provides the user with a means to additionally eject the fluid, such as water or a saline solution, if such is available in a desired mode of sanitation or sterilization. However, the device to McDonald requires deliberate manipulation while at or near the users eye and is intended for employment by physicians to a patient. Further, McDonald does not easily necessitate removal of contact lenses and requires ongoing purchasing and use of sterile fluids to be used properly.
These and similar prior art devices for soft contact lense insertion simply fall short. As such, there is a continuing unmet need for a contact lens insertion and removal device which is user friendly, requires no purchase of expensive fluids, is easily manipulated and sterile, and ensures proper disengagement of the device from the lens during lens insertion.
The forgoing examples of related art and limitation related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.